


The Colors of the Earth

by KittyCatty64



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Galra Empire, Imprisonment, Matt's POV, Nightmares, Post-Kerberos Mission, Rated For Violence, non-canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 06:58:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9589808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyCatty64/pseuds/KittyCatty64
Summary: It has been about a year since Matt's capture. He has lived his life in solitude, forced to obey the demands of the Galra. But when a strange opportunity for freedom and happiness presents itself, will Matt take it?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first posted fic so constructive comments are much appreciated! Thanks!
> 
> Thanks to BeepBoop_SneetSnoot and Katnined for reading!

_ “Matt,” my mother said, love ever-present in her eyes, “I love you. Promise me you’ll be careful, I can’t stand to lose you…” Her voice trailed off.  _

 

_ “I will. Dad, Shiro and I will bring you back some space rocks,” I said, just a hint of humor infiltrating my voice. _

 

_ I looked around the Garrison launch pad, wondering how long it would be before I felt the gentle breeze of the Earth again. Kerberos would be far different from Earth, no doubt, but there was no telling how long we’d be gone. Time is different in space; there's no telling what I could come back to… _

 

_ I was torn away from my thoughts as Katie tackled me with a hug from behind. “Good luck, Matt!” She yelled. Despite my worries, I smiled. Some things never change, and Katie was one of them. She'd always believed in me, and I her. She was going to do great things one day. _

 

_ In a blur, we said our final tearful goodbyes, boarded the ship, and strapped ourselves in for quite a bumpy ride. The three of us--Dad, Shiro, and I--were ready to make history. _

 

_ Just as the ship began to count down, we were shaken out of this contentedness with a scream--one that was sickeningly recognizable as my mother’s. She pointed at the sky, which was turning an ominous purple, tinged with yellow, as we watched, utterly powerless. _

 

_ The sky blossomed into darker hues as we headed straight for it, but now it was creating small, jagged stones that pelted our ship, burning holes through the seemingly bloodstained sky. My first thought went to the innocent people below us, undoubtedly in the line of fire of this monstrosity. As our altitude increased, so did the screams of pain which we heard only as whispers, silent pleas for mery from below. As we rocketed into the unknown one voice, louder than them all, rang out in a desperate kind of turmoil, a heart-wrenching kind of scream that reached us only as a haunting murmer, containing my sister’s first and last words--“MOM!” _

 

I woke from the dream in a cold sweat, panting.  _ My mother is safe _ , I told myself.  _ It was just a dream. _

 

I looked around my cell for the upteenth time in the Grande Galra Inn and Suites. Nothing had changed in a year--the walls are still a cold, haunting metal. The purple streaks appeared to hold flowing, glowing liquid, undoubtedly laced with technology to monitor my every movement. They laced around my cell like veins of an unimaginable beast. 

 

Directly in front of me stood the barred door that sent a jolt of electricity up my arm every time I tried to open it. I’ve learned to follow the rules and not cause trouble--punishments are not light, and my various array of scars show just that.

 

The source of most of my scars, though, is my only interaction with another living being--when a druid comes to throw me into the arena. They do it at random, and it’s a wonder that I’m still alive.  _ Eat or be eaten _ , I think, quite literally.

 

But most of my time here is spent thinking in solitude. Is Katie okay? What about Mom? Dad? He was separated from me months ago, and I haven’t heard from him since. I know worrying won’t get me anywhere, but my anxiety has skyrocketed since I was forced face-to-face with this hell. The anguish that fills my days is ceaseless, but made worse by the constant humming in my ear. The Galra put a tracker on me, like every other prisoner here, and its constant reminder of my captivity will cease only when I am nothing more than a bloody corpse, just another prisoner lost to the clutches of the Galra.

 

_ Buzz _ . Will I ever see my family again?

 

_ Buzz _ . Do Mom and Katie think me to be dead?

 

_ Buzz _ . Is Dad even alive?

 

_ Buzz _ . Are the rumors about Shiro true? Did he really escape?

 

_ Buzz _ . Am I destined to die here, helpless and alone?

 

_ No _ . I refuse to give up this easily, refuse to lose hope of finding my father!

 

_ Silence.  _

 

For the first time since I had arrived, the humming of my tracker was nowhere to be heard.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

With a soft  _ whoosh _ , an arched entryway appeared behind me, facing the door that confined me to this prison. The arch was a rich oak, and a wave of nostalgia washed over me as I remember the treehouse Katie and I make when we were younger… even then, she was a brilliant mind. The color and texture were identical to that of our treehouse….

 

Inside the arch was the most mysterious. It was a swirling black vortex, switching from one image to another, but dematerializing before I could make them out. They were bright and colorful, and though I couldn't clearly see them, I heard laughter and felt the feeling of home. 

 

At last, the archway settled on a scene. My view was not obstructed in the slightest; it was clearer than looking through a window. And I was glad for it--my breath would have fogged up the obstacle as I beheld the astounding sight that greeted me. There was a grassy hill, so vividly green that it made my eyes ache, leading down to a meadow of the most beautiful blues and purples and pinks and reds and whites and any color imaginable, all trapped inside the pigmentation of surreal flowers, begging to have their essence released into the wild. A blue sky without clouds accompanied the endless meadow, extending out over the lush forest tracking as far as the eye could see. I felt tears form in the back of my eyes as I remembered the beauty of Earth.

 

But in the center of the meadow sat our childhood treehouse--deep, rich wood making up a ragtag palace. It was larger than I remembered, but even from what seemed like a half mile away, I could feel the joy radiating off the colorful scheme.

 

And then, when I thought the scene could not be more beautiful, I heard Katie’s wild shrieks of joy that reminded me so much of the scent of vanilla filling the kitchen and the robots we’d build with spare parts. She poked her head out of the window, and at last, I saw her face. She had grown up, but no more than a year or two. Her hair had gotten longer, and it flowed freely in the wind, her carefree spirit limitlessly enthralled. She pushed her hair out of her face, yelling, “Dad, where’s Matt? He said he would come out here today.”

 

And suddenly my entire family was there, they were all there and healthy and alive and happy. Walking up to join them, Shiro smiled as he embraced the seemingly perfect day. A mix of emotions bubbled inside me, and tears threatened to spill over. 

 

I let them.

 

“I’m not sure, sweetie…” Dad said, a crinkle forming in his brow as if just realizing that I was the only one missing from the picture.

 

“Here,” I whispered, a tear running down my cheek, “I’m right here.”

 

This door, this archway, seemed to open to a perfect world. A world without war, without torture, without hunger, pain, fear. A world where happiness is triumphant and sadness is found in only the darkest of corners. My perfect world lay before me, bright and shimmering, a perfect escape from this hellish prison. 

 

Then why did I hesitate? 

 

I looked back into reality, to my bleak, haunting cell, and wondered--what did I do to deserve this? War? Hunger? Pain? Solitude? Maybe I could leave, could have a chance to live. I felt the portal beckoning me to join in on everything my life should have been, and in that moment I knew anything was better than being a prisoner. And if Dad had already found his way into this world, maybe we could finally be happy.

 

With one glance back at the unforgiving darkness filling my cell, I noticed something strange--the purple liquid in the walls had stopped moving, and was infused with the colors of the scene in the archway, the colors of the earth. As I noticed this, my cell began to brighten, and Shiro’s voice boomed softly in my mind.

 

“Matt.”

 

With this simple word, I knew what I had to do. I stepped up to the archway. I felt warm wind and heard my sister’s laughter. Without a second thought, I closed my eyes and walked through the arch, to happiness--to my family.

 

The moment I stepped out of my cell, I knew something was wrong. I felt my body twisting and contorting. My fingertips were on fire, my toes were colder than the hearts of my captors. My entire figure felt alive with energy… but not in the way it should have. Leaving the “real world,” a place wreaked with war and hate and the desolate silence that haunted my dreams  _ every night _ as it fed the beast that lurked in my mind’s darkest corners and continued into my every waking hour….

 

It was alive.

 

This perfect world, one encompassing me in blinding light, never existed--never did. As the light from my venture to this utopia faded, I saw the world for what it really was--a dark, charred landscape. Once bright and alive, as I had seen it, this terrain bore no resemblance to paradise. The forest had been demolished down long ago, leaving black, ashy undergrowth. The once-vivid greens, purples, and pinks had likewise transformed to a harsh blackness, and the grass crunched and broke off as I landed.

 

With ugly anticipation, I realized that the centerpiece to it all was my burnt, charred treehouse, under which….

 

_ No, _ I thought to myself,  _ This can't be real.... _

 

For across the meadow lay my unmoving, unseeing family.

 

With tears clouding my vision, I turned to the unrecognizable bodies of my parents--both smeared with black blood; my mother with a talon through her heart, my father with one through his brain. They were holding hands, inseparable to the very end.

 

Next I found Shiro’s once-smiling face, ever lively eyes. But they were no more. He stared coldly into an unforgiving sky, a deep slash down his side, arm outstretched to Katie…

 

Oh, shit, Katie…. On the ground in front of me, directly under the swirling purple sky and burnt treehouse, lay my baby sister.

 

Her hair spread out from her oddly placid face like a halo, and a thin stream of blood trickled from her mouth. Her clothes were ripped and smudged with dirt, as was her face. Despite her calm expression, her legs were splayed out at unimaginable angles and there were deep cuts littering her seemingly fragile body. Her pale figure, reflecting the moonlight, was covered in ash.

 

I turned around, forcing myself to tear my eyes from Katie, to find the portal, but it had vanished without a trace. With a pang, I realized that the horror of this new world--one where happiness is unspeakable and the sinking weight of hollow darkness reigns supreme--was my eternal reality.

**Author's Note:**

> Well that turned out darker than expected, sorry y'all 
> 
> Note: Minorly edited 11/22/17


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